Some terrible news indeed, though, as fate would have it, we are forced to share the misery. This month’s news begins elsewhere. Stalin of the Soviet Union, who had a few month’s earlier annexed Latvia without a need for an armed conflict, has met strong opposition to Soviet takeover in Estonia, and consequently announced war on June 6th. Not that anyone was surprised, though the war in Finland has granted him control over just one Finnish territory, and being the tyrant that he is, he must affirm his strength by bashing a weak country.
Some time after these events, I ordered a landing on Cyprus. The British took Rhodes (which too will soon be remedied), so I will take Cyprus from them. This is even a more advantageous position, as it has a port and air base for strikes on the Suez canal. On second thought, it’s an absolutely equally advantageous position. However, on their way there, I noticed a peculiar thing. Not one province on the British shore east of Suez is guarded!
This means that a landing to secure this region would be remarkably simple to execute. However, the current landing was in jeopardy. The UK decided to intercept my transports before the troops would even make it ashore. Knowing the bastards would do this, I already had da Zara’s fleet moving into the zone, and it shielded the transports before any damage would be dealt. The RM Aquila took some heavy fire in the process, and I sent it home for repairs. Regardless, Cyprus fell on the 12th of June.
Nearly a week later, the last of the original 6 “Improved” class carriers was completed. The RM Falco was assigned to the fleet of Vice Admiral Campioni, who was at this time supervising the repairs on the almost fully restored RM Europa (in dock since the great battle in February). All three ships currently undergoing repairs, the RM Europa, Aquila, and Falco (which is just familiarizing itself with the new crew) should be ready for combat at about the same time. Meanwhile, my submarines struck another two convoy ships and an escort. They are so effective, I’m almost considering researching improved models and constructing them in superior numbers!
This month is another rather uneventful month, and the next notable event occurred only on the 26th, when Italo Balbo’s bombers sighted a rather large British fleet entering the sea through the Suez canal.
The carriers were of equal class to my own. I could not let this go unchecked, and sent da Zara to intercept them, destroying the carriers at any price. A few hours later he was already in combat with them.
He successfully flanked and attacked them, dealing damage immediately. After taking a few heavy hits, the British fled, knowing that this was a losing battle. Unfortunately, neither carrier was sunk. In fact, here’s a list of all ship losses for the past 2 months. I’ve cut out all the information that has nothing to do with us.
As you can see, not a single Italian casualty since those two transport ships were destroyed. Notice also that only one of my carrier kills was not made by the RM Sparviero. Which reminds me, I should build more transports, though right now I am more occupied with producing more battleships and destroyers to use as screens for my ever growing carrier armada. I want to operate them as two interchangeable fleets, but there is just not enough vessels that could travel with them. Sending them out alone is unwise. For now, I plan to keep them as a large fleet with six carriers, shielding any incoming vessels from the red sea, while two squadrons of naval bombers are destroying anything that lives on the western border. There is a long chasm between Gibraltar and the open Mediterranean sea, where sight of enemy ships could potentially be lost. With eight bomber squadrons patrolling that area, few ships could get in and remain operational. They would also be the first to notify me of a large fleet coming in, which could require carrier attention.
Also, on the 29th, Italo Balbo was lost in an “accident” involving a ship I did not even know we possessed. The letter I received was exactly the same as yours, word for word! Someone is trying to frame us, Benito. Some events in this history are so remarkably scripted, even in our two extremely varying worlds they occur on the same day, and with a remarkably fatalistic (and often wildly incorrect) message. The fact plots to keep me up at night, but seeing as I work for up to 14 hours a day, there is little time for thoughts when I finally get to bed. A great leader needs great rest.
I am unsure of what further military steps to undertake. The invasion of Britain is a long way away, as their navy still has significantly superior numbers to our own, and we can not even leave the sea. I see three options before me. The first is the invasion of Yugoslavia. This will not have any particularly obvious tactical benefits, but would allow us access to Yugoslavia’s resources and industries, which would make us more self-sufficient in terms of raw materials, having to trade less supplies to the Germans for them. It would also increase our industry superbly in size.
The other two options are the invasion of Republican Spain to have land-based access to Gibraltar. They will not give us military access for certain, meaning that this is the only way to finally get rid of that problem. The third is, naturally, the invasion of Suez and holding that straight while pushing east into Iraq and Kuwait. Once those oil fields are secure and the channel is ours, the British can not stop us, for we may strike Abyssinia again, followed by South Africa, and then use the German ports on the French shore to take the battle directly to the British! What would you say, Benito? Which course of action is most advantageous to us at this moment?
